China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent 1,000 tents to the southernmost province of Hainan to help shelter hundreds of thousands of people affected by typhoon Lekima.

Lekima, the 15th severe tropical storm this year, left China for Vietnam on Wednesday night after more than 225,000 people were evacuated in the province. Most of the evacuees were fishermen and the occupants of unstable buildings.

Lekima, named after a fruit in Vietnam, made landfall in Sanya, a coastal city in Hainan, at 11:00 PM on Tuesday, bringing downpours and high winds to almost every city and county.

But local authorities said no casualties had yet been reported, and all the 1,064 reservoirs or dam projects in the province remained intact due to prompt protective measures.

The typhoon killed at least eight people in northern Philippines and triggered landslides, floods and high waves.

(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2007)